Europe

After first targeting refugees, the Hungarian Government has now turned its focus back to one of its old “enemies”. Just a few months before the upcoming municipal elections in spring 2019, homeless people have recently become a more intensely-targeted group than ever before.

On the 12th of September the European Parliament voted on the so called Sargentini Report, condemning the anti-democratic turn of Hungary and initiating the procedure related to Article 7 (1) of the Treaty on the European Union. Huge attention has been drawn to the continuous democratic erosion in Hungary.

With this series, we intend to let experts from the Balkans express their views about current political issues in their region. Perspectives focuses on Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the foundation has established offices.

Dossiers

The European Energy Atlas 2018 is published at a time when the EU Member States are discussing their energy and climate strategy until 2030. It thereby not only provides a compass on the differing energy discussions in Europe but also reveals how a Europeanization of the energy transition will be the more efficient and cost-effective option for all Europeans.

From the 28th - 20th June 2017, the 10th Summit of the Global Forum for Migration and Development (GFMD) took place in Berlin. The following studies provide knowledge about the situation of migrant workers in Greece's, Italy's and Spain's agriculture.

On April 4th 2017, the Hungarian government passed amendments which are obviously directed against the renowned Central European University (CEU), founded by George Soros. In our feature, we collect articles on Orbán’s attack on academic freedom.

For the first time in the EU's history, a member state has voted to leave the European Union. In our dossier, we explore the international reactions: How are the EU member states as well as the US, Russia and Asian governments responding to the Brexit decision? What will be the implications for other EU member states and the future of the European Union?

Publications

The conflicts, social and political turmoils we have witnessed in the western Balkans in the last three decades were, in the minds of many leaders and participants, centred around collective identities whose differences allegedly could not be settled in a nonviolent way. And still, more then 20 years after the wars, patriarchal, homophobic and exclusive tendencies are dominating in the region, shaping a climate of intolerance, of exclusion, of the radical negation of all things humane and rational.

On this issue of Perspectives, you will find stories written by citizens in the true meaning of that word. They describe what the “right for the city” means to them. Why they perceive their activism as fighting for a common rather than an individual right, and why they choose to fight for one of the most precious yet most neglected of human rights. Reading them, one learns also much about the perfidious ways those in power limit people’s right to the city.

Approaches to understanding the meaning of accession to the European Union vary significantly among the post-Yugoslav countries. For some the process has been an important driving force for changes in their legal and institutional systems.

There are many reasons to migrate: This publication provides a forum for scientists from Pakistan, Somalia and El Salvador, people, who had to flee from Syria, Burundi and Malawi as well as migrants and activists from Niger and Senegal to emphasise how little we know about "causes of migration and flight".

It is vital to intensify the work on an architecture for peace across Europe. The purpose of this report is to provoke further discussions on how this can be done without losing sight of the causes of the current crisis.

The 7th European History Forum took place in May 2018 at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin. Speakers and guests from Germany, Eastern and Southeastern European countries discussed likenesses and differences according their respective historical classification of the events of the year 1968.

The armed conflict between Ukrainian authorities and Russia-backed militias in the Ukrainian Donbass region has already led to some 10,000 killed and 25,000 wounded civilians. Partly landmines are the cause.

Dossier

Our dossier on Hungary is as a forum for critical voices since the right-wing government came to power in April 2010. The contributions reflect the socio-political changes as well as long-term developments.